Album Review: From The Cradle To The Rave - Shit Robot

BlackPlastic has appreciated the work of Shit Robot since their track 'Wrong Galaxy' appeared on Radio Slave's rather excellent Creature Of The Night compilation back in 2007.

Back then 'Wrong Galaxy' felt like a breath of fresh air - proper techno done properly at a time when dance music was obsessed with being anything it wasn't. Electroclash, post-punk, rock music - all were greatly incorporated into tracks that worked on the dance floor, but sometimes less is more. And in essence From The Cradle To The Rave delivers on the promise of that first single.

Notably absent though it may be, 'Wrong Galaxy' is a demonstration of Shit Robot alter-ego Marcus Lambkin's approach to music. And so when album opener 'Tuff Enuff' turns up with it's functional, driving bass line, spoken vocals and minimal synth washes it is clear that this album will leave you wanting more, not less.

There are a couple of moments that may fail to live up to the heights that Shit Robot can sometimes achieve - 'I Found Love' feels unnecessary, particularly compared to the imagination demonstrated on previous singles 'I Gotta Feeling' or the dizzying 'Simple Things (Work It Out)'.

'Simple Things' itself remains the best thing Shit Robot have released - a track so perfectly formed that it simply never gets old, the perfect combination of classic techno and house where the real innovation comes from nothing but the bloody-minded quality of the thing.

The Alexis Taylor guest spot on 'Losing My Patience' is great and 'Take 'Em Up', featuring Nancy Whang, is even better - a slick slice of eighties-pop sheen. Things round out with previous single 'Triumph!!!' and frankly it's an appropriate name and an appropriate conclusion.

Cradle To The Rave succeeds because it is so focused - compared to much of DFA's output this is remarkably straight forward house music, but it is all the better for that fact.

BP x

From The Cradle To The Rave is out now on DFA, available from Amazon.co.uk on CD, LP and MP3 [affiliate links].

Video: South Pacific - Is Tropical

Is Tropical have been on BlackPlastic's radar for a little while now but since recently signing to Kitsune they seem to be picking up momentum.

'South Pacific' is a lovely shoegaze-y number with buzzing melodies and uplifting vocals that feels like running away. Which is appropriate given the video, which has a nice washed out look, basically consists of the band making a raft and sailing away.  Kitsune feeling feel like they have dropped the ball lately - hopefully this represents a return to form... Expect to hear big things from Is Tropical in 2011.

'South Pacific' is out on 22 November 2010.

BP x

Video: Sex War Sex Cars Sex - Ulterior

The press release for Ulterior's 'Sex War Sex Cars Sex' contains quotes that compare Ulterior to Gary Numan, Killing Joke, Suicide and Jesus & Mary Chain and judging by this single those references are pretty on the money.

The band look like they mean it in this video - this isn't the usual knowingly sly nod to the past - and on the four-minute climatic build of 'Sex War Sex Cars Sex' this sounds less like a 2010 take on early 1980s electronic industrial punk than the real thing. BlackPlastic digs it, although whether we'd want to listen to an entire album of angst-ridden electronica remains to be seen.

BP x

Single Review: Rave On Kids - Acid Invaders

Acid Invaders' 'Rave On Kids' doesn't really require a review, because quite simply it does what it says. This is an acid assault on the senses - it's not clever but it's pretty fucking big.

So 'Rave On Kids' is the right mix of old fashioned acid application fused with wonky bass. Campy robot vocals encourage us to take a trip to New York city (is it just BlackPlastic's imagination or are stupid vocals about New York back in?) and basically this is a track to lose memories to. And quite frankly, we like that.

'You Should Have Known Better' on the flip side feels a little like revenge. If 'Rave On Kids' is simplistic good fun then 'You Should Have Known Better' is what happens when you wake up in the corner of the nightclub without your phone, wallet or keys and the sense that you missed out on something important. The title is deeply relevant - the much darker chugging acid this time dosed in guilt and uneasiness.

BlackPlastic has no idea where Acid Invaders can go from here - it pretty much feels like they just nailed the genre of their namesake - but for the moment, stick in on and forget how you got here.

BP x

Rave On Kids is out today on Introduce Records.

Album Review: Infinite Love - Dustin Wong

Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes, well, he eats you. Or so says the stranger to the Dude in the Coen Brother's rather majestic The Big Lebowski.

In other words, life is bittersweet and full of surprises. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Dustin Wong's Infinite Love feels like an album built for the days you win and the days you lose.

A concept album that calls to mind the Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs in reverse, Infinite Love is actually two albums. Or perhaps the same album twice. Both start the same but they diverge halfway through, giving the listener a choice of experiences. Each version of the album consists of 15 un-named 'tracks' but each of these blends into the next and are purely for navigation. Ultimately this is one piece of music, just in two versions, the 'Brother' version and the 'Sister' version.

With a continuous, instrumental approach it almost feels ambient. But it is actually pretty much all warmly strummed rhythm guitar music. Imagine if Here-Come-The-Warm-Jets-Eno bumped into Music-For-Airports-Eno and you would be halfway there. It should be impenetrable, pretentious and dull but it is anything but.

Infinite Love is a heart-warming victory lap. Dustin Wong was inspired by orchestral music on this album and it shows in the ambition and use of space - this is as exciting and experimental an album as you could expect.

BP x

Infinite Love is out now on Thrill Jockey, available from Amazon.co.uk on CD+DVD and LP+DVD [affiliate links].

EP Review: Klavierwerke EP - James Blake

Sure, accuse us of hyperbole, but James Blake's latest EP is what genius would sound like if you distilled it down to twenty-minutes of music and then just let it be.

Nowhere is this demonstrated more confidently than on the already hyped-to-shit 'I Only Know (What I Know Now)'. What makes this record so good? It's Blake's confidence in his own conviction. He basically takes one really good idea, marinades it, lets the thing infuse for a moment and then kills it. Moby made two whole fucking albums based on old soul samples that all sound the same. Here James Blake has taken one gorgeous snippet of a vocal and simply made the best record you could out of it. And that is the genius - there is no kitchen sink here, just one idea the composer really believed in.

BlackPlastic has long held dubstep to be speed garage for people with beards and, well, it is. But then this isn't really dubstep - it's just the best things to ever come out of the dubstep scene.

BP x

The Klavierwerke EP is out now on R&S Records, available from Amazon.co.uk on MP3.